Is it OK to lie, cheat and steal?

Recently an 11-year-old boy shot a hockey puck through a hole to win $50,000. Isn’t that great? Well, let’s look at the facts. Fact 1: He wasn’t the one who was suppose to be doing the shooting. Fact 2: He lied to the person who asked if he was the boy whose name appeared on the chosen card. Fact 3: He was willing to take the money that didn’t belong to him. That makes this 11-year-old a liar, a cheat and a thief.

Before we go any farther, let’s also bring out the good. It bothered the boys that they were trying to get something that didn’t belong to them, and the parents also thought they should not get the prize. They stated they didn’t bring up their children that way. That’s great, but I question the father sending the wrong boy to make the shot in the first place. Did he change his mind after he saw the legal papers he was going to have to make out and the legal ramifications involved if a lie appeared on the papers? Or, did he think it was OK because he thought his son certainly couldn’t make the shot in the first place? I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.

The sad part of all this is the fact that most people seem to think he should get the money. That means that most people think it’s OK to lie, cheat and steal. Whatever happened to morals? Lying is wrong, cheating is wrong and stealing is wrong under any circumstances. Period.

Rea Buttermore, Boardman

Beware, the world is getting worse

The letter, “We all have what it takes” has a lot of nice platitudes but doesn’t have anything to do with reality. The world is getting worse and worse, and people just can’t handle the truth.

The scriptures say that one sinner does a lot of harm and we know that all people are sinners and lost in this dark and dying world. The scriptures also tell us that Jesus is the only way, truth and life.

All the religion in the world can’t change people or the world that they live in. Only the true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent can change the lives of people, but they just don’t believe it.